I mostly use it when browsing the web and spot an author or title that I want to see if I already have in Calibre. Copy the web text to the clipboard, switch focus to Calibre then hit ctrl+S (or it's alternative). I find this more convenient than selecting the existing search text in the search box, pasting in the clipboard and hitting enter.

It can also be handy when resolving duplicates within Calibre as you can select the title of the book and do ctrl+c, ctrl+s to execute a search on it (the Calibre built-in "Similar search" option does not include titles as an option). Likewise if you do a wide rather than narrow search (i.e. without quotes) it can also offer a fast way to help find authors that differ in minor ways such as spaces between initials, names reversed etc.

Special Notes:

I have not tested this plugin on anything other than Windows. If someone running Calibre can feedback success or failure on other platforms it would be appreciated by others I am sure.

Installation Steps:

Follow steps as per first post above

I don't bother adding this item to my toolbar/context menu as it's intent is as a fast keyboard shortcut. It is however possible to do so.

Last edited by kiwidude; 01-27-2011 at 07:46 PM.
Reason: Moved to own thread

@kiwidude: You can hit / and Ctrl+V to achieve the same thing without the plugin

I was aware of that shortcut thanks but it doesn't do quite the same. / just moves focus to the search box, but the selection cursor is placed at the end of whatever text was in it. You still have to clear the search text before pasting in your new selection and hit enter. And the "exact" search option I coded with ctrl+shift+s putting quotes around the text isn't available either. So it turns a minimum of 4 and 6 keystrokes respectively into one that is by far more convenient (I can do the whole sequence with my left hand not moving and right can stay on the mouse). Handy when you are checking a bunch of books one after another switching between the browser/Calibre.

As an aside I would propose that it would be a nice minor improvement to Calibre if the search box behaved more like web browsers and many apps in that when focus is shifted to it via that shortcut all of the current text is selected ready for over-typing? You are less likely to have shifted focus away from the search box unless you had found what you wanted and now want a different search. The user can always hit "End" or a cursor key if they want to refine the text in there, but holding backspace down or pressing shift-Home for the most common case of a new search (for me anyways) gets a bit repetitive and puts both hands back on the keyboard. Also a keyboard shortcut to execute the action for that "Reset Quick Search" button would be nice too? I'll add these to the tracker and perhaps patches for your consideration, changing my local copy anyways.

Not that many people can try it yet until Calibre 0.7.32 is released (or you run from source) but I have updated the zip for the "Search the Internet" plugin to support multiple row selections. Handy in particular if you have a bunch of books without ratings and want to look them up on Amazon to find some.

This plugin was designed to allow quick navigation from the selected book/author in Calibre to a choice of websites in your browser. By default websites such as FantasticFiction, Amazon, Google and Wikipedia are configured, however you can add/remove your own to this list via configuration. I mainly use this to look for better quality metadata than that available from the default Calibre sources, however it is also useful to get detailed reviews, identify missing books in a series, accurate publication dates etc.

I am using WinXP sp3 calibre 0.7.32

I have added this plugin but even after restarting calibre the menu doesn't reflect the Search the internet option. The plugin says Search the internet (1.1.0).

I have added this plugin but even after restarting calibre the menu doesn't reflect the Search the internet option. The plugin says Search the internet (1.1.0).

Did you add it to the menu in the preferences? You need to do that as well. It works for me with the same configuration, by the way.

I have a minor suggestion for the Calibre UI: After selecting the plugin file to add in the plugins dialog, the text field gets updated with the path. But after clicking "Add plugin", nothing happens, although the plugin is added successfully. I think there should be some form of feedback, I would suggest clearing the text field again.

I have a minor suggestion for the Calibre UI: After selecting the plugin file to add in the plugins dialog, the text field gets updated with the path. But after clicking "Add plugin", nothing happens, although the plugin is added successfully. I think there should be some form of feedback, I would suggest clearing the text field again.

I would second that suggestion - if not clearing the text then at least give some sort of feedback, even a "Plugin installed" message box or something. Right now you tend to click the button a few times "just to make sure". Alternatively perhaps if the list above automatically expanded and scrolled to the new node that it adds to the list rather than as a user doing a bit of a hunt (if you aren't sure what plugin type it is).